Suppose Fx (x) represents the distribution function of outcomes over a fixed period of
time, such as one year, of a portfolio of risks (such as a set of insurance risks or an entire
insurance company). An adverse outcome is referred to as a "loss." In the notation used
throughout this book, positive values of the random variable X are adverse outcomes, that
is, losses. The VaR of the random variable X is the lOOpth percentile of the distribution of
X, denoted by VaRp(X) = π . This shows why VaR is often called a quantile risk measure.
When the insurance company has this amount of capital available, it can absorb 100/»% of
possible outcomes. When p = 99.95% for a one-year time period, the interpretation is that
there is only a very small chance (0.05%) that the insurance company will be bankrupted
by an adverse outcome over the next year.